NASA’s ICON Spacecraft Has Arrived At Vandenberg

9 May 2018NASA reported that NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California “for the next stage of its journey to launch, scheduled for June 15 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.” The observatory was built by Orbital ATK, and will be “integrated onto a Pegasus XL rocket, which will in turn be flown to Kwajalein on an L-1011 aircraft, which will double as its launcher.” ICON will study the “dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather from above.” Variations in this zone can distort or disrupt radio communications and GPS signals, and ICON can “pave the way for mitigating their effects on our technology, communications systems and society.” (Image Credit: NASA)More Info (NASA)